Jaw construction for a slidable side jaw wrench



March 15, 1955 F. JOHNSON 2,704,004

JAW CONSTRUCTION FOR A SLIDABLE SIDE JAW WRENCH Filed Feb. 5, 1954 INVENTOR. FEED Jam/50M United States Patent JAW CONSTRUCTION FOR A SLIDABLE SIDE JAW WRENCH Fred Johnson, Seattle, Wash.

Application February 5, 1954, Serial No. 408,336

3 Claims. (Cl. 81-165) The present invention relates to a nut wrench. Its primary object is to provide a nut wrench which will not only function in the usual manner of such wrenches, but will also function as a ratchet wrench, yet without any ratchet wheel or dog, or extra moving parts, but purely by means of a special conformation and relationship of the nut-engaging faces of the two jaws to one another and to a nut within the range of sizes intended to be engaged by a given wrench. Thereby with a single wrench, for instance a wrench of the crescent type, and no more complex in its operating mechanism than the conirnon crescent wrench, a workman may turn a nut around continuously, disengaging the wrench and reengaging it for each partial turn, in the usual manner, or in lieu of such disengagement and reengagement, he may, by a different manipulation and by employing an additional fixed surface, ratchet the wrench in effect about the nut, especially a hexagon nut. Thereby, by turning the wrench in one rotative sense the nut will be grasped and turned with and by the wrench, whereas when the wrench is rotated in the opposite rotative sense it will automatically disengage the nut and automatically reengage the same when the original sense of rotation is resumed.

The invention is shown in the accompanying drawings in a form of construction which is presently preferred by me, although it'will be understood that certain changes may be made in the form and relative arrangement of the parts, as will be pointed out hereinafter,

and as will be more thoroughly understood as this specification proceeds. 7'

Figure 1 is an elevational view of a wrench engaged with a nut and rotating the same to tighten it, although with clearances between the nut and the jaw surfaces somewhat exaggerated, and Figure 2 is a similar view showing the same nut and wrench, but with the wrench now rotating relative to the nut in the sense to take a fresh grip, and ratchetingin effect about the nut.

Figure 3 is a similar view, but showing the wrench engaged with such a nut for nonratcheting rotation.

In the form shown in the drawings the wrench comprises the usual handle 1,. of any suitable length, the integral or fixed jaw 2 projecting therefrom at one end, and a movable jaw 3 guided in the usual way upon the end of the handle 1 for movement towards and away from the jaw 2. A worm 4 journaled in the end of the handle 1 is provided for engagement with the teeth 13 at the base of the movable jaw 3 to effect the latters movement. Since these arrangements are common in crescent wrenches, and are well understood. it is not deemed necessary to show them in greater detail. If desired, a spring means at 5 may be provided to maintain the worm 4 always tightly in engagement with the cooperating teeth of the movable jaw 3, and to urge the latter away from the fixed jaw 2.

One of the jaws (and in the illustrations it is the fixed jaw 2, but might be the movable jaw 3) is provided with a short nut-engaging face 6. The other jaw, in this instance the movable jaw 3, is provided with a cooperating nut-engaging face 7. The movement of the jaw 3 is guided in such a way that the faces 6 and 7 are maintained always parallel to one another. In such respects, except for the shortness of the face 6, this wrench is like any common crescent wrench.

It will be understood that in this wrench, in common with other such wrenches, a wrench will be provided of a size intended for engaging and turning nuts within 2,704,004 Patented Mar. 15, 1955 a limited range of sizes, and for nuts above or below those limits larger or smaller wrenches, respectively, will be provided. Accordingly the length of the nut-engaging faces 6 and 7 is necessarily related to the size of the nut N which is intended to be engaged by this particular wrench. To illustrate, the short nut-engaging face 6 is of a length which preferably does not exceed half the length of the nut face Fl which it is intended to engage. On the other hand, the nut-engaging face 7 of the opposite jaw is of a length at least equal to, and preferably considerably in excess of, the length of the nut face F4, opposite the face F1, which it is intended to engage. Furthermore, the jaws are provided with cooperating bottoming surfaces 8 and 9, respectively, against which the intervening faces F2 and F3 of the nut may bottom.

When the wrench is to be used for ratcheting, the jaws are positioned apart slightly more, but only a little more, than the distance between the faces F1 and F4 of the nut N. It is, indeed, virtually impossible to tighten the jaws onto these faces, by hand, too tightly to enable the wrench to ratchet. The wrench is applied to the nut in the usual way, after the latter is threaded upon its bolt B, in such manner that the faces F2 and F3 bottom on the surfaces 8 and 9, respectively. This bottoming action permits the face F1 to enter halfway or less into engagement with the short nut-engaging face 6 of the one jaw, that is to say, the terminus 11 of the face 6 is not more than halfway out the length of the nut face F1. The face F4 is in full engagement, or substantially so, with the nut-engaging face 7 of the other jaw. If now the wrench is rotated in the sense indicated in Figure 1 by the arrow A1, there is a tendency to rotate about the point or edge P1 of the nut as a fulcrum, but since the distance to the opposite point P2, as represented by the diametral dot-dash line in Figure l, is in excess of the distance between the point of engagement of P1 withthe face 7, on the one hand, and the outer or terminal point of the face 6 on the other hand, a jamming action results, notwithstanding the slight looseness of the fit of the nut within the jaws, and the nut is forced to rotate with the wrench.

However, when the sense of rotation of the wrench is reversed, as indicated by the arrow A2 in Figure 2, there is a fulcrum effect produced at the point 11, which is the outer terminus of the short nutengaging face 6, and the distance from this to the point P3, as represented by the dot-dash line in Fig. 2, is less than the spacing between the nut-engaging surfaces 6 and 7, with the result that the wrench in effect fulcrums about the point 11 and rotates reversely about the nut. However, as soon as the next face F6 is parallel to the face 6, it slips past the terminal point 11, being aided in this by the inclination at 10, and the nut again bottoms between the jaws with the surface F6in contact with the face 6 and with the surface F3 in contact with the surface 7, and the nut and wrench are now in the relationship shown in Figure l, but advanced by onesixth of a circle. By again reversing the sense of rotation to that indicated by the arrow Al, the nut may be turned another sixty degrees, and the ratcheting and turning action may continue as long as it may be needed.

It should be noted that the spring 5 has no function in permitting or accomplishing this ratcheting action. The primary function of the spring 5 is to retain the worm 4 in any given adjusted position, and to urge the movable jaw 3 to the extreme limit of its movement away from the fixed jaw 2. It is'very desirable that the jaws be fixed and held in a given position of adjustment, since a little looseness of fit is desirable when parts are in the Figure 1 relationship in order to permit ratcheting, and yet too much looseness will destroy the grip of the wrench on the nut in the turning direction.

In addition the wrench is capable of use in the ordinary manner, as shown in Figure 3. To this end the jaw which has the short nut-engaging face 6 is provided with a supplemental nut-engaging surface 12, which also is parallel to the nut-engaging faces 6 and 7, and the opposite or cooperating face 7 is of such overall length that when the nut is engaged and gripped closely between the faces 12 and 7 practically the entire length of its opposite faces is engaged by the respective nutengaging faces 7 and 12, as is shown in Figure 3, and no rotation of the wrench about the nut can occur. In this position the nut bottoms against the inclined face 10, previously referred to.

The wrench illustrated is of the common crescent type, but it is immaterial insofar as concerns the special features of this invention what particular style of wrench is employed, so long as its jaws are relatively movable and are capable of being held in any position of adjustment, in positions where the nut-engaging faces are parallel one to another. Likewise, although the short nut-engaging face 6 is shown herein as formed upon the fixed jaw, it might equally well be formed upon the movable jaw, or for that matter, the two jaws might each be guided for movement upon the handle, and in consequence the short nut-engaging face 6 in such an instance would of necessity be formed upon a movable jaw.

I claim as my invention:

1. A ratcheting nut wrench comprising a handle and two relatively slidable spaced-apart jaws carried thereby, said handle having a surface engageable by a nut which is to be turned, and which is within the range of sizes to be engaged, to limit the entrance of such nut between the jaws; a first one of said jaws being formed with two nut-engaging faces in parallel planes, namely, a shorter face adjacent said limiting surface and of a length not more than half the breadth of a face of such a nut, when such nut engages the limiting surface, and a longer face located outwardly of the shorter face and of a length approximating the breadth of the face of such a nut while engaged with such longer face; the second of said jaws having a single nutengaging face parallel to the two nut-engaging faces of the first jaw, and of a length to engage substantially the entire breadth of the face ofa .nutwhich is engaged, at its opposite face, by either face of the first jaw; the longer face of the first jaw being spaced farther from the face of the second jaw than is the shorter face thereof, and the first jaw having a shoulder connecting its two faces to constitute an entrance-limiting surface for a nut which is engaged between the longer face and the cooperating face of the second jaw; and means to effect approach and recession of the opposite jaws, through positions wherein their cooperating faces are always parallel, and to retain the jaws in any such adjusted position.

2. A nut wrench as in claim 1, for engagement with hexagon nuts, wherein the entrance-limiting surface of the handle is directed at an angle of 60 to the two nut-engaging faces of the fixed first jaw, and the second jaw is formed with a like entrance-limiting surface directed at an angle of 60 to each of the handles entrance-limiting surface and the single nut-engaging surface of the second jaw.

3. A nut wrench as in claim 2, wherein the entrance limiting shoulder connecting the two nut-engaging faces of the fixed first jaw is disposed at an angle of 60 to the longer such nut-engaging face, and so is parallel to the entrance-limiting surface of the handle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 583,741 Gerhardt June 1, 1897 2,565,154 Wedvik Aug. 21, 1951 2,592,781 Yavner' Apr. 15, 1952 2,630,037 McComb Mar. 3, '1953 2,646,711 Yavner July 28, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 46,474 Denmark Nov. 14, 1932 

